Somewhat Unintentional
by brumania
Summary: Valeriu is having a rough time as a Puella Magi. Fortunately, he meets someone and finds out that things can get better, even if only for a while. PMMM AU, RomNor, mentions of character death.


_(Norway - Nils, Romania - Valeriu, Moldova - Ciprian. Cover image credit goes to tumblr use chartini- go check her blog out)_

It was only his second attempt but he had found himself thinking, "God dammit, Valeriu, get your shit together!" A rather appropriate thought, considering his situation.

The Romanian heaved himself up, leaning on the cane as a crutch. He was already seven minutes into the fight, with numerous chances to defeat the witch, yet here they still stand. As soon as Valeriu was able to stand up properly, the slash of a sickle swooped at him, tearing the cloth on his chest, knocking him back down from the sheer strength of the swing. His back hit the wall straight on and when the boy caught up with what just happened, his mind could barely register blurry pools of blood on the floor, along with a stream of viscous liquid (probably also blood, with some saliva) dripping from his mouth.

He looked up at the witch as his sight clarified. The thing had all four of its arms swaying side to side, each holding a golden sickle which perfectly matched its likewise golden skin. Had the situation not been so dire, Valeriu would've joked that it looked like an Oscar award reject, with the scrawny, extraneous limbs and the distorted face. But of course, the boy had the best luck when it came to dire situations.

Valeriu tried to stand up again but found himself cringing at the smallest back movement. Above him, the arms of the witch stopped swaying and positioned itself stiffly like a catapult. He barely managed to teleport before the witch shot all four sickles directly at him, and bit his lip as he mustered the strength to stay afloat behind the witch and create more canes to impale the creature. They all shot the witch simultaneously, pinning the giant golden monstrosity to the floor. A couple of the sharp-pointed canes manage to pierce through the skin and plant themselves on the ground without going through any flesh or bone.

The witch screamed in agony as Valeriu created more canes and was in the process of connecting them into something like a lance. He wavered from the final blow, but why? This happened so often, it shouldn't be this hard to just kill the witch- this demon of despair, created from the negative thoughts of people. But not just any people, but kids just like him who got caught up in this mess, along with kids who just wished to make things better, just like… just like…

_Ciprian._

His attention was brought back to the battle in front of him when a sickle was thrown right at his shoulder, pinning him to the wall. The witch screamed and laughed with one arm twisted in 180 degrees and releasing itself from the canes just by flexing. He screamed at the pain as the witch's head also rotated to glare and hiss at him. He threw a cane as a last-ditch effort but was blocked easily by the sickle which was now raised, ready to end him.

A beam of ice hit the witch right on the twisted arm, which made it bend at an even more disturbing angle. Another boy landed elegantly on the ground, holding a sceptre which appeared to be made of ice and snowflakes.

He gave Valeriu an emotionless look, "Another new one, huh," He spun the sceptre and hit the purple crystal tip on the ground, and a ripple of icicles spiked up and melded together, creating a barrier around the Romanian, "Kyuubey's been busy recently."

Valeriu had difficulty seeing what happened next, but the battle was quick. The beam of ice had stuck to the witch's arm and changed color to match the witch's golden skin. He was able to see the witch raise its scythe in the air with one hand, as if anticipating something, but nothing happened. Instead, the blond took the opportunity to strike it down in one fell swoop with a giant shard of ice.

The labyrinth faded out into the real world, and so did the sickle which held Valeriu down. He hissed and fell on his knees as the wound on his shoulder bled more profusely. The ice barrier melted away and the blond walked toward him, but as grateful as he was, he couldn't help but to ask himself who in the world was this guy? (There was also the bitterness from not being able to defeat the witch himself, but that took a step back from the confusion.)

"Here," he tossed the grief seed at Valeriu's lap since the Romanian was too busy covering his wound, "Use it and then heal yourself."

Valeriu looked up at the other and saw that he was now wearing a rich private school's uniform. Valeriu transformed back into his normal attire and got his soul gem with his blood-soaked hand. He tried healing himself first, and was fortunately able to stop most of the bleeding. He sighed, since at least now he didn't have to worry about bleeding to death or having to rush to the hospital, even though the pain lingered. It didn't take much to notice that the blond was still watching him so he hastily cleansed his soul gem and stood up. He wanted to hiss at the pain, but didn't, not wanting to look any weaker to the stranger.

"…Thanks." He said, though a bit unsure why this person helped him out in the first place, considering how apathetic he looked. His first guess would've been that the guy just wanted the grief seed for himself, but that was quickly tossed out the window. Some ulterior motive, then?

"It'd be a waste if someone who just contracted died during their first or second hunt." The blond turned around, ready to leave. He only took a few steps when he stopped and turned his head around back at Valeriu again, "Meet me here on Thursday, 8pm. If you're decent enough, I could help train you."

"Wait, who-"

"It's Nils," the blond replied, didn't bother to turn around again and left without another word. The Romanian would go after him just to get more information, but the gash in his shoulder demanded more attention.

—-

Thank god that stranger had the sense to set up their next meeting on Thursday because had it been any sooner, Valeriu would not have been in the right condition to fight. Magic accelerated the healing, but nevertheless he had to go to the nearest clinic to get bandaged up and went to a great effort to hide it from his parents, who were still busy looking for their "lost" son.

He wished he could just tell them to stop looking, but he didn't have the heart. Even the smallest mention of his little brother was too much for him; the words would jumble up and tangle from guilt. "But no, now wasn't the time to think about that," Valeriu thought to himself as he tried to chase the thoughts of Ciprian away. Luckily for him there was a distraction right ahead.

Nils was waiting in the alleyway as expected, reading something from his phone. He didn't bother look up to acknowledge Valeriu's presence, "It's 8:02." He said simply, with a tone that implied this was some sort of insult.

Valeriu didn't reply. The other sighed and held out his soul gem, ready to transform, "It'll be a quick duel, no fatal wounds or anything like that. We clear?"

Valeriu nodded and was the first to transform into the "magical girl" attire (ridiculous to call it that, considering that he hadn't seen one girl who had contracted.) Nils followed soon afterwards, the vest and dress pants changing into something more like medieval robes except lighter for better maneuvering. There appeared to be runic symbols on his collar, sharp and angular and unlike any runes he'd seen from the witches. There were more of them on his belt, which was also where his soul gem was located, dark purple in color and shaped by two crescents facing away from each other, somewhat similar to the pagan symbol of a moon goddess which Valeriu had seen in his random bursts of intense occult research.

Nils attacked first with a beam of ice, one easy enough for Valeriu to dodge. Valeriu charged head-on, creating dozens of cane which all darted at the opponent. They were all deflected by the twirling of the sceptre, landing instead on the ground and on the pipes and bricks on the narrow walls, spouting leaks from both sides. As weak as the move itself would've looked, it did buy some time.

Valeriu would've been able to solidly land a hit on the blond, but the other found a perfect window of time and aimed another beam of ice which would definitely land a perfect hit. Valeriu's eyes widened, but then his whole body disappeared. The blond blinked, certainly not expecting this of all things, and actually let out a yelp when he felt a sudden force on his back. He twisted his head and saw Valeriu, who had landed a kick from above, smirking like some cocky bastard. Nils, quite aware of what the brunet will do next, took a risk by twisting the rest of his body so that he can swing the sceptre at Valeriu just after the Romanian pushed away with his leg.

"Shi-" Valeriu hissed as the sceptre's crystal point glided across his torso, leaving a simultaneously burning and a freezing sensation. A layer of frost grew as a mark of the sceptre's path.

Both of them had to take several steps to regain their footing, though it took much more for the older one to recover, even resting one hand on the ground to keep himself from falling over. More canes appeared during that time and Valeriu tried feeling the frost, only to pull back reflexively due to just how cold it felt (it was odd though, considering it didn't feel nearly as cold where it actually hit.) It had also changed itself to a shade of red, perfectly mimicing the color of his soul gem.

The blond stood back up, holding his composure in a way that gave him an untouched and almost regal feel, as if that little balance blunder only a second ago in fact had not happened at all, "What an unusual power," he remarked, though he still sounded as amused as a stone wall, "You definitely should've been able to beat that witch from before."

"Why thank you," Valeriu replied with a slightly uneven breath. The frost felt like it penetrated deep into his flesh, "Trained just for you."

"Flattery won't get you anywhere in a real fight."

"Oh so it does work here." Valeriu grinned slightly and attached a couple of canes together so that it was now approximately the length of the other's sceptre, if not a bit longer. He gripped his new staff in a thrusting position and lanced directly. It was responded with a similar forward thrust and sparks flicked out, only to completely freeze when the hit the ground.

"Adequate, but how about this?" the older blond let Valeriu win in the little thrusting strength competition and he spun once out of the way, slamming Valeriu on the stomach as he darted forward from the extra momentum.

The force was enough to throw Valeriu to the wall, bursting another pipe of water which spewed all over him. He coughed and sputtered out water and looked up at the blond who now aimed the scepter at him, presumably for another beam of ice. Valeriu smirked at him, ready to teleport out of there again but when he tried, he was only met with another blast of ice, this time trapping him to the wall. Valeriu blinked, surprised. Why didn't it work this time? He tried again, snapping his fingers very audibly this time. Nothing. He looked down at the ice which held him down like a spider's silk and back at Nils who now finally showed some emotion in his face with an expression of amusement.

"I believe my ability counts as more unusual, though." The blond used the crystal tip of his sceptre to raise Valeriu's chin up, "You're decent enough as a beginner. But that's it." The tip trailed down the Romanian's neck to the ice which completely covered his chest and all of the ice, including the initial line of frost, melted immediately, and was absorbed by the crystal end.

The blond offered a hand, "I don't think I ever got your name."

"Valeriu," He grunted and got up without the help of Nils' hand. He narrowed his eyes, "What do you want to train me for if you think you're so great at this?"

The Norwegian frowned when his gesture was declined, "There's a storm coming. No one knows when, no one knows how, but it'll be made by a barrier-less witch and it'll wreck this whole area if it's not stopped."

Valeriu didn't expect such a direct answer. Then again, the answer was still vague and it was hard to tell if Nils knew more just from the stoic expression he always seemed to maintain. However, it wouldn't hurt to get some training from someone who has more experience, especially since it was unlikely that he'd find anyone else (and even if he did, he doubted they'd be inclined to help,) "Fine. I'll go with that for now."

"Good." Nils said and he transformed back into his normal attire, which looked a little overdressed for the slum-like setting of the alleyway,

"You'll hear from me soon. Maybe for a witch, maybe for something like this, whichever's convenient."

Valeriu doubted if Nils even bothered hiding that he meant he was going to go with whatever was convenient for himself, and not for the new kid.

"Alright, I can't guarantee it'll work out, though." Valeriu stood up and walked away from the gushing water before using a bit of magic to dry himself off completely, "I'll see you then." and with that he teleported to the rooftop of one of the adjacent buildings.

He stood there, letting the breeze play with his already messy hair. The only reason he teleported was to check if he could still use the power, though it did also make a nice exit to the conversation. He felt from his chest down to his stomach in the diagonal line of frost which had bothered him. Really, what was up with that ice?

Leaning at the edge of the rail, Valeriu watched Nils from above. The other walked off, hands in his pockets, and made a sharp turn to the nearest café. The brunet sneered, the guy was probably one of those pretentious hipsters that refused to eat or drink from any 'mainstream' venue. At least he didn't dress like one.

Valeriu sighed and turned around. No point in watching the Norwegian when they're sure to meet again many times.


End file.
